James withington



(No Model.) J. ITHINGTON.

4 WIRE UNWINDINGYREEL. No. 323,012. Patented July 28, 1885.

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J AMES WVITHINGTON, OF OHAMBERSBURG, ASSIGNOR TO THE TRENTON IRON OOMPANYQOF TRENTON, NEWV JERSEY.

WIRE-UNWINDING REEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 323,012, datedJuly 28, 1885.

Application filed June 3, 1884. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMEs WIrHING'roN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cham-v bersburg, in the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey, have invented certain improvements in wire-unwinding reels or devices for retaining a coil of wire during the operation of unwinding it, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a class of devices which are employed to retain a coil of wire during the operation of unwinding said coil as, for instance, for the straightening of it.

My device is primarily intended to be used in connection with a certain improved apparatus for straightening wire, which I have invented, application for patent for which has been executed by me contemporaueously'with this application. My invention is, however, applicable with other machines or for any uses to which unwinding-reels as such can be put.

The object of my presentinvention is to provideadevice adapted to retain with equal certainty and accuracy different sizes of coils of wire,wire rods, and kindred products,and from which the coils can be unwound without danger of displacement or flying off. These objects I attain by mechanism, a preferred form of a convenient embodiment of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and explained in the following description, the par-' ticular subject-matter claimed being hereinafter definitely specified.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front elevation; Fig. 2, a left-hand side elevation, and Fig. 3, a top plan view of an apparatus conveniently embodying my improvements.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the figures.

A is a bed-plate, adapted to be bolted or otherwise secured to the floor. From the bedplate are erected and to it are rigidly secured in any suitable manner two vertical slotted standards, 13 13, disposed in parallel vertical planes at a given distance apart. The slots therein are designated by the letters I) 6'. These standards at their upper extremities are rigidly connected together by a horizontal shaft, 0, one extremity of which in the drawings-the right hand-projects beyond the right-hand standard, B,and is equipped with a loosely-running concave-faced pulley, D, upon which the coil is designed to be suspended. To one side of each standard is applied a rack, 12*, and a second shaft, 0, which I term the lower shaft, is entered horizontally through the slots of thetwo standards, and is adapted to be movable up and down in said slots by means of pinions c c, secured to it in such a position as to face and engage with the racks upon the standards. This lower and movable shaft also projects, in the form shown, to the right hand of the standard B, and in line below the projection of the fixed shaft 0, and is as to its projecting extremity likewise equipped with a lower pulley, D, adapted to run freely upon it. A collar, d, between the standards B and the pulley D prevents lateral displacement of the movable shaft.

E is a cushioning-block, of wood or other suitable substance,to receive and arrest the descent of the lower shaft when the coil is completely unwound or removed. Such being the construction of my improvement, its operation is effectuated by engaging the coil about the lower pulley and raising said lower pulley and its lower shaft until the coil can be engaged about the upper pulley also, after which the weight of the lower shaft, pinions, and pulley depending upon the coil secures the fixed retention of said coil between the upper and lower pulleys, and renders its unwinding from off them possible.

It is obvious that the vertical play of the lower pulley and shaft with respect to the sloted standards,through the travel of the pinions against the racks, is such as to adapt the reel to the retention of coils of varying diameters, the weight of the lower shaft and pulley asserting itself to maintain the coil in the conand the racks be made integral with the standards. I however prefer a sectional construction of substantially such character as that represented in the drawings.

The particular advantage of the rack-andpinion arrangement is that it prevents the twisting of the movable shaft and causes it to retain its horizontal position whatever be the height at which it happens to be placed. It would of course be possible to dispense with the rack and pinions and substitute some equivalent contrivance for maintaining the parallelism of the shafts. The devices shown age, however, the best of which I have knowle ge.

I have represented the pulleys as made with semi circularly-grooved faces. It is obvious that the exact form of the peripheral faces of these pulleys is immaterial, provided they be so shaped as to receive and fixedly retain a coil of wire. Thus they might equally well be straight-faced pulleys provided with radial flanges to retain the coils upon the straight faces; or they might, if desi red, be provided with V-shaped. grooves. The form shown in the drawings is, however, the best in practice.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. An unwinding-reel, consisting of a fixed upper hollow-faced pulley, a movable hollowfaced pulley adapted to have movement toward or from said fixed pulley, and a housing or suitable frame for containing said pulleys, substantially as and forthe purposes set forth.

2. The combination, to form an unwinding reel, of standards forming a housing, a fixed shaft carrying a hollow-faced pulley disposed at the top of said standards, and a movable shaft carrying a hollow-faced pulley disposed in line below the pulley upon the fixed shaft and adapted to have a motion toward or from said fixed pulley, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination, tov form an unwindingreel, of the slotted standards, the fixed shaft and fixed hollow-faced pulley, and the movable shaft, traveling by means of a rack and pinion within said slotted standards and pro vided with a second hollow-faced pulley so disposed as to be in line below the fixed pulley, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination, to form an unwindingreel, of the slotted standards, the fixed shaft and fixed hollow-faced pulley, the movable shaft traveling by means of a rack and pinion within said slotted standards and provided with a second hollowfaced pulley so disposed as to be in line below the fixed pulley,and the cushioning block adapted to arrest the descent of the movable shaft, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. The combination, to form an unwindiugreel, of the slotted standards B B, provided with the racks b*, the fixed shaft 0, provided with the hollow-faced pulley D, the movable shaft 0, provided with the pinions c c,which engage with the racks of the standards and also provided with the hollow-faced pulley D,

disposed below the pulley D, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this 22d day of May, A. D. 1884.

J AMES WITHINGTON.

In presence of J BONSALL TAYLOR, W. O. STRAWBRIDGE. 

